


No Loyalty Among Thieves

by lillypad2104



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Character Death, Fake AH Crew, GTA AU, Gen, Heist, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-22 20:00:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16604555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lillypad2104/pseuds/lillypad2104
Summary: After six months of going their separate ways, the crew gets back together, finally ready pull off the job Geoff always talked about: the “suicide job” he had dubbed it.Wound up in the thrill of the heist, they all make one vital mistake: trusting each other completely. Things have easily changed in those few months. Someone’s playing the game with very different intentions, and someone else pays the ultimate price for it.Once fractured, always broken.





	1. The Hit

” _So, do you accept the terms of our deal?”_

_“...Yes.”_

 

* * *

 

Sometimes people disappear without reasons why. Sometimes people ruin every good thing you ever had without reasons why. Sometimes everything changes in the blink of an eye and you’re powerless to stop it.

Six months. Six months ago all of that happened. Ryan vanished. And then Ray. And Gavin. Soon the rest of the crew followed suit, went their separate ways with the hope the split was only temporary. It wasn’t. At least, not then it wasn’t.

But only three weeks ago Geoff had been contacted with an offer. A chance to finally pull off _the_ job. And a chance to reconcile.

Geoff said the job would be suicide.

The Union Depository. They were going to rob the fucking Union Depository. The last attempt made on the Depository had been unsuccessful, with that crew drilling into the wrong part of the building, leading to security getting heightened. But the Fake AH Crew had yet to make their attempt on the supposedly impregnable UD. With seven of Los Santos’ finest, their chances seemed good.

Come 11 am everyone sat around the table in the heist room, awaiting further debriefing from Geoff. After six months it felt good to be back. It slipped back into familiarity, like nothing had changed.

The Fakes didn’t talk about the split.

Each job in the heist would be dangerous, even more so than usual. He pulled up two maps, one detailing the exterior of the depository and the other of the interior.

“Gav, you and I will be going in through here,” Geoff circled the back entrance in the parking lot, “you need to disable the alarms to avoid anyone calling backup, from there we'll move to the vault.”

“Plan G!” Gavin called out with a grin. Dustings of gold coated his top eyelids, which in turn were neatly lined with liquid silver. Rings of all various metals and shapes graced bony fingers. An open packet of Redwood cigarettes peeked out of his designer shirt pocket, Geoff didn’t know Gavin picked up smoking.

Flashing a grin back at Gavin, Geoff continued, “Ryan, Michael, and Lil’ J, the three of you will go in through the main entrance and exit through the back at ground level. Take heavy weapons and mow through anyone in your way if needed. The gold should be in the basement vault where you’ll meet me and Gav.”

“I'm thinking we should get bulletproof suits,” Ryan suggested, for a deadly job like this, full body armour would be invaluable. His once long, black hair had been cut short and coloured blond. Ryan also stopped wearing the skull mask, revealing the new face paint he wore. It made him less intimidating.

Geoff noticed the golden wedding band on Michael’s ring finger, clueless to the fact that Michael had ever been seeing somebody. He had never talked about being sweet on someone, and if Geoff was totally honest, he expected Michael to be sweet on Gavin if anyone.

“Jack, see if you can get a weaponised police maverick to provide air support and to grab the gold. Finally, Ray, I need you on the upper balcony of the Arcadius building across the street providing sniper cover.” Geoff had been glad to see Jack ditched the Hawaiian shirt.

Geoff circled another spot on the map. “We'll leave the getaway vehicles in the parking lot, there's a staircase here where we can make our way down. When the job’s done we'll meet up at the safe house in East LS.”

He carefully eyed the reactions of the crew. Michael and Jeremy smiled in crazed glee, discussing what weapons they planned to bring on the job. Ryan typed away on his phone, making the needed arrangements to get the armour.

“Do we know the layout of the inside?” Jeremy asked, pausing his discussion with Michael.

Geoff shook his head as he let out a small sigh, “Unfortunately not, but we've improvised on heists before.”

“We've been living next to that building for three years and _now_ we finally decide to hit it?” Ray said, earning some laughs from the crew. It felt damn good to laugh as a crew again. Geoff expected the first words he’d hear from Ray in half a year to be a joke.

“I can see the Weazel News reports already,” Jack added, “‘ _Union Depository robbed by next door neighbours.’”_

If the crew could actually pull it off, this would be the job of the year. Hell, the job of the century even. But the job was seriously deadly, no one had ever successfully hit the UD before.

In a week, they could be writing history itself. It felt like those six months had never happened.

 

* * *

 

The week passed by slowly, with Geoff’s nerves becoming worse each day, but the day finally arrived.

Gavin and Geoff planted the getaway car and mounted turret around the back of the apartment, making sure they could be accessed no matter what exit the crew took. They made their way down the staircase leading to the Union Depository entrance in the lower parking lot, crowbars in hand.

Ray set up shop on the top balcony of the Arcadius building across the street. From his position he had clear sights of the back exit Michael, Ryan, and Jeremy were to come out of. The openness of the courtyard made for a good battlefield.

Ryan, Michael, and Jeremy holed themselves up in a van parked opposite the building’s main entrance, as soon as Gavin gave the all clear on the alarm system they were to bolt. They outfitted themselves with grenades, sticky bombs, miniguns, and the most powerful special carbines dirty money could buy. The LSPD and whoever else decided to show up were going to get fucked. Hard.

Jack’s police maverick remained on the top of the penthouse, ready to set off mid heist to cause confusion and avoid suspicion. The heli played a vital role in getting the gold out safely. In amongst all of the police helicopters nobody would pay attention to an extra one.

“We all in position?” Geoff couldn’t hide his shaky tones. The confirmations alleviated the worry as adrenaline kicked in. “It’s time.”

Geoff motioned to Gavin and the two began prying the shutter open with their crowbars. They opened enough space to be able to crawl through to the other side. Now safe in the Union Depository, the worst awaited them.

The pair moved through dimly lit corridors until they reached what looked like the system control room. Upon looking through the window, Geoff dragged Gavin down into cover.

“Shit. There’s a guy in there,” Geoff whispered.

Gavin’s eyes widened. It would have been comical if not for the situation.

“What do we do now?” Even Gavin’s whispers resembled squawking, and Geoff could sense Gavin’s panic.

“Stay low and follow me.” Geoff took the lead, with Gavin obediently following him in silence.

Geoff eased up to standing height and wrapped his arms around the security guard’s neck. The pair writhed for a moment before the guard fell out of Geoff’s grip and onto the floor.

“Start looking at the system, I’ll find something to tie shitface up with.”

The hacking progress felt laborious, even to Geoff. He couldn’t even begin to comprehend how Gavin had the patience to sit through this on every job. The constant clicking of keyboard keys started to get to him.

“Any progress?”

Gavin shook his head in defeat. “I can’t even get past their bloody firewall.”

Geoff had no idea what that meant, but it didn’t sound too good. He wished he could do more to help Gavin other than standing guard.

“Maybe if I run this…” Gavin muttered to himself, fingers dashing wildly about the keyboard. His face was plastered with sheer concentration, Geoff thought it looked like the kid would pass out from focusing too hard any minute now.

“We’re in!”

Geoff clapped Gavin on the back. That actually seemed pretty easy, unless it was his complete lack of knowledge that made it look easy. The pair contacted the van over the comm system and moved further into the Depository, heading down towards the vault.

 

* * *

 

“It’s showtime, boys.” Ryan wore a wild and maniacal grin. He tensed his grip on the minigun and pushed the glass door wide open. Jeremy and Michael followed suit, the latter lingering for a moment, checking the all clear outside, before catching up.

“That’s it? That’s your witty one liner?” Jeremy said, raising an eyebrow at Ryan. Ryan shrugged. “What about _time to deposit your lives.”_

“That’s worse! It doesn’t even make any sense.”

Jeremy could only smile. Michael shook his head in amusement and brushed past Jeremy to get up front with Ryan.

Upon the sight of the heavy weaponry, most of the civilians simply fled the building. Three heavily armoured men, outfitted with enough firepower to put the LS military to shame.

Jeremy and Michael kept the rest of the crowd under control as they advanced through the building in an attempt to neuter any collateral damage that could be avoided. Ryan fired a few minigun rounds into the walls. No one said anything about _him_ causing collateral damage.

Michael pressed the elevator button, ready for an express ride to their fortune.

They found the bank soon enough, Geoff and Gavin were already waiting for them downstairs.

Michael attached an entire duffel bag full of sticky bombs to the vault door. These pyrotechnics were a show not to be missed. After detonating the bombs, the five returned to where the vault door formerly resided.

Holy shit. The gold. Stacks of bars piled high. They each grabbed as much as could possibly be carried before alerting Jack to swoop down for pickup.

“Gav and I’ll go back through the way we came. Ryan, you guys need to split up, the firepower’s gonna be coming from fucking everywhere out there,” Geoff said.

Ryan nodded, sharing one last look with Geoff as they parted ways.

Ray brought the scope up to his eye. _They brought in the fucking military? Gavin disabled the alarms, this wasn’t supposed to happen._ He began taking potshots to draw away any attention from the back exit.

Ryan made his way up the stairs, feeling the strain of all the bulletproof armour on his muscles. He couldn’t see any sign of Jeremy or Michael through what he presumed was either smoke or tear gas.

Geoff and Gavin made their own way through smoke filled corridors. It hung thick in the air, showing no signs of subsiding. Geoff could barely see Gavin’s outline in front of him. A wild gunshot drew his attention elsewhere momentarily, upon turning back to the exit he could no longer see Gavin.

 

* * *

 

Ryan was the first to surface from the Union Depository. He couldn’t quite believe they audience they had attracted. He found himself face to face with a soldier, and not having enough time to react.

A bullet whizzed by and the man facing Ryan slumped to the ground. “Thanks, Ray.”

“ _Anytime.”_

He looked around for the rest of the crew, but appeared this battle was solo for now. “Geoff,” Ryan’s voice was haggard and strained, “where the hell is everyone?”

 _“Fuck, I don’t know. Gav and I got separated.”_ Shit. _“You haven’t regrouped with Michael and Jeremy?”_

“No. I don’t know where anyone is.” Ryan almost sounded panicked. Almost. He slid into cover behind a partially destroyed concrete support pillar, firing a few shots without looking.

 _“I need backup.”_ Ray. Damnit. _“I-I think someone’s here-”_

A gunshot rang out loudly across the comm. Ray’s line went silent.

Jeremy, amongst the chaos, found his way to Ryan. Jeremy clutched at his thigh, blood seeped through his fingers. “You hear that?”

Ryan could only nod solemnly in response. He spotted Jeremy’s bullet wound, neither brought it up. Michael approached from the right hand side, the same as Jeremy, breathing heavily.

“Go,” Michael ordered Ryan, “Jeremy and I’ve got this.” His trademark cocky smirk had Ryan reassured. He threw down his bag of gold and moved towards the Arcadius building, ducking to avoid the storm of bullets.

 

* * *

 

Ryan reached the top balcony and froze in place. He wasn’t supposed to go out like this. Despite the gaping bullet hole in his head, Ray looked peaceful for once. Ryan didn’t even know where to begin explaining this to Geoff.

He knelt down next to Ray’s lifeless body. He only hoped Ray would be happy wherever he was. Standing back up, Ryan’s foot his something. On closer inspection he recognised that something.

Bullet casing from the ammo of a special carbine.

Ryan’s blood ran cold upon his epiphany. _One of us killed Ray._

He fumbled with the comm until he only got Geoff’s line. “ Don’t react.”

“ _What the fuck is happening, Ryan?”_

“Ray’s dead. One of us murdered him.”

Geoff didn’t quite believe what he was hearing. He didn’t want to.

“ _Meet me by the cars, we’ll sort something out.”_

 

* * *

 

After Ryan met back up with Jeremy and Michael, they took Gavin’s advice and hopped the railing to the parking lot. Gavin hadn’t told them just how much of a drop it was, the landing hurt like a bitch but in Gavin’s words it looked “bloody top.”

Geoff divided the crew into three. He and Ryan would take the Roosevelt, affectionately dubbed the “AH Mobile,” Jeremy and Gavin would distract the police and military with the mounted turret, Michael would be joining Jack in the helicopter.

They had agreed to meet up in the sequestered safehouse in East Los Santos. It sat next to the power grid and had an easy escape into the storm drain if needed.

Jack lowered the maverick to ground level, the crew threw in the duffels and didn’t look back.

Geoff and Ryan sat in silence for the first leg of the drive. Neither knew what to say, how to put it delicately without outright implicating someone of murder.

“We don’t know what Michael, Gavin, Jeremy, and Jack were doing when Ray was killed.” Ryan broke the silence, the volume of his voice seemed to bounce around the car. His words hung in the air, but they carried enough weight to drag them down.

“We need a plan.” Geoff sounded tired.

“It’s not that easy. If we start pointing fingers….”

Geoff knew as well as Ryan there was no conventional way to find out what happened. But, fuck it, Ray was _dead_. Geoff didn’t care how he found out, but he was damn sure he would find who did this. He had never dealt well with betrayal and this was just about breaking him.

The remainder of the drive fell back into the unnerving silence.

Ryan and Geoff were the first to make it to the safehouse. Geoff had never liked the place, but it had enough rooms and a basement to make up for the musty smell and the mould.

Geoff sat on the couch, wringing his hands until his knuckles turned a ghostly shade of white. Ryan paced back and forth, the inane sound of his thudding footsteps had been drilled into memory.

Jack and Michael came through the door, having already begun celebrating.

“We fucking did it.” Michael’s gleeful cackle rang through the safehouse, as did the sound of Jack clapping his back.

“Yeah…” Geoff mumbled, not looking up to face the pair.

“Shit. Am I celebrating too early?” Michael couldn’t stop smiling, though Ryan thought it seemed somewhat forced. “We stole from the _Union Depository_.”

“...Gavin and Jeremy aren’t back yet.” Ryan couldn’t offer anything better than that without arousing suspicion.

“Oh,” Michael sounded deflated, but the smile remained on his face nevertheless.

“What about Ray?” Jack asked, noting that nothing had been said about him.

“Resting.” _Yeah, eternally thanks to one of us._

Gavin and Jeremy entered roughly twenty minutes later. Like Michael, Gavin’s preemptive celebrating got cut short. Geoff rounded the crew up into the main room, and they were expecting the high to finally begin.

“Ray’s dead.” Geoff had to open with a raw shocker, nothing like brutal startling to get the guilt flowing.

“How?” someone asked, Geoff couldn't place who.

“Intentional friendly fire.”

Silence swept across the room. Then, all hell let loose. Accusations assaulted from left and right, there was a lot of pushing and fighting and Geoff was sure someone broke someone else’s nose. The situation could not have felt less real, like Geoff was outside of his body observing the scene as time barely passed by.

A gunshot snapped everyone back to the present. The Fakes turned to face Ryan, who had drawn the pistol from the coffee table and fired a warning shot into the ceiling.

He spotted Jeremy’s bleeding leg, Gavin’s bleeding face, the dawning realisation of what occurred began to settle in. He couldn’t think of any possible way to orchestrate this calmly. No one would openly admit to cold blooded murder.

“Where were the four of you when Ray got shot?” There was no other way to word it without sounding accusatory.

Jack’s expression quickly turned sour. “Us? Where the fuck were _you?”_

“It is awfully convenient you found Ray’s body, Ryan. What if it’s a cover up?” Blood from Gavin’s broken nose trickled into his hands. Ryan was glad he broke Gavin’s nose. How did the bastard have the audacity to blame him?  He was the only one who went to do something about it.

“Why’re you blaming me?!” Ryan’s voice shifted in pitch. His grip became vice-like on the pistol in his hands.

“No one is blaming anyone,” Geoff intervened, moving into the middle of the semi-circle. He held a hand up to Ryan and the other to Gavin, ready to hold them back when the time came.

“Really? ‘Cause it fucking seems like Ryan’s blaming us,” Michael spat, words like venom. He moved closer to Ryan with clenched fists.

Ryan’s eyes narrowed, his eyebrows furiously knitting together. “I’m blaming you because _one of you did it.”_

Michael threw a sloppy punch at Ryan, but Geoff caught it just before impact.

“Geoff wasn’t with you either, Ryan,” Michael pointed out, “you sure it wasn’t him?” His words felt like cruel taunts.

Ryan fell quiet.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

Jeremy, who had been observing the scene, slumped back against the couch, his face paling. For a moment, everyone exchanged the same glances.

“Jack, clean up Jeremy’s wound. Fix Gavin’s nose if you have time, not that it’s possible.” Geoff didn’t mean for his laugh to sound malicious but it did. The Fakes shared his laugher. Uneasy laughter. Forced laughter. “We’ll figure this out tomorrow, it’s getting too late to deal with anymore bullshit.”

Jack escorted Jeremy to the makeshift medical room, with Jeremy weakly smiling as he limped away. Gavin trailed behind, making soft keening sounds, his nose was swollen and crusted with dried blood.

“We should’ve fucking stayed away from each other,” Geoff mumbled to himself as he stalked out of the room.

Splitting up fractured the Fakes. The job was an attempt to patch things up, to bring them back together, but you can't repair something without knowing the cracks will always be there.

Once fractured, always broken.


	2. The Fallout

Behind every good betrayal is bad reasoning. An act of desperation, an act of vengeance, an act of self preservation. No matter the poor reason, the sting of betrayal never really goes away. And now someone had betrayed Geoff.  _No,_ not just Geoff, the fucker had betrayed the entire crew. The entire fucking family they had built together.

Someone had murdered Ray. One of  _them,_  one of the  _family._ The horrible realisation dawned that Ray had been the first, and god only knows if he’d be the last.

In a day’s time, the fate of everything would be decided. Life would carry on for those who made it out alive.

 

* * *

 

Gavin, Jeremy, and Jack sat in the medical room mostly in silence, the only exception being Jeremy’s pained murmurs.

Gavin rested on top of an old wooden crate in the corner of the room. He slumped over, avoiding eye contact with both Jack and Jeremy. Blood clung to Gavin’s face and hands, his nose had begun to visibly bruise a nasty shade of purple. Ryan was a damn dickhead…

The effect of Ray’s death lingered in the room. Gavin miserably browsed through his twitter feed while Jack patched Jeremy up quietly.

Jack grew worried when it took close to ten minutes to finally stop Jeremy’s bullet wound from bleeding. He didn’t know how or why Jeremy got shot, and Jeremy himself seemed reluctant to elaborate.

He proceeded to remove the remnants of the bullet, concentration half focusing elsewhere. Jack still couldn’t fully believe Ray had been killed. They had no contact for half a year but the news still came like a punch in the face.

Jeremy’s cried yelp drew Jack away from his thoughts.

“Shit, sorry about that.” Jack truly was sorry. Sorry that Jeremy got shot, sorry that everything was collapsing on top of them. Sorry he hadn’t tried harder to keep them all together.

With all his strength, Jeremy pulled his body into a sitting position. Jeremy’s red rimmed eyes met Jack’s. “Don’t be sorry, buddy. It’s not like it’s your fault the military showed up.”

Gavin snorted from his perching spot on the crate. “You don’t know that.”

The pair shot Gavin heated glares. The prick could’ve waited until they had all cooled off, until the shock of Ray’s death started to sting a little less.

Gavin shrugged. “What?”

“Just… fuck off, Gavin. Now’s not the time,” Jack’s voice came out gravelly and vicious. Gavin exaggerated his eye roll and went back to looking at his phone.

In amongst the medical supplies, Jack hadn’t been able to find any thread suitable for stitching up wounds, and had to hope fishing wire wouldn’t be too harsh on Jeremy.

Jack pulled his seat in closer to Jeremy’s body. “So…”

Jeremy’s lips stretched into a messy smile. “So.”

“How did this happen?” Jack began stitching up the wound, keeping intense eye contact with Jeremy.

“Coming up from the vault I couldn’t see a thing. Ryan and Michael were gone, and I started hearing shots but not seeing them. I got fucking ambushed by the military.”

“Shit.”

“Shit sounds about right. One of them shot me,  _then_ he noticed the minigun. Made my way outside and found Ryan after Ray… y’know.”

Jack cleaned up the last of the stitching and sat Jeremy upright. Jack knew he couldn’t have killed Ray, his story was legit. The bullet in his leg didn’t come from any guns the crew had on them.

He called Gavin over to start patching up his nose. His touch was less soft with Gavin after he accused Jack of setting up where the job went wrong. Jack didn’t even warn Gavin before straightening his nose.

“Bastard prick,” Gavin mumbled under his breath.

The room fell quiet once more.

Gavin pressed an ice pack against his nose in an effort to relieve the swelling, while Jeremy was hopped up on whatever painkillers Jack managed to find.

“Why did you leave?” Jeremy’s blunt question came hurtling out of the blue.

Gavin tried to ignore him, not fully meeting his gaze.

Gavin,” Jeremy’s tone sounded sterner than before, “six months ago. Why did you leave?”

“Had to go to England.” Gavin wrapped his arms around himself and pulled them up close to his face defensively.

“To plan Ray’s killing?” Jack’s biting remark shocked himself, but he couldn’t help the feeling that Gavin deserved it.

Gavin sighed in defeat, it was a heavy sigh, an attempt to stall while trying to find the right words.

“I… I tried looking for a new crew, it's why I left. I guess after Ryan and Ray, it seemed obvious you would all leave. So I left before you all could leave me.” Gavin’s abandonment issues were deeply rooted. Until finding Geoff by pure luck, every crew Gavin previously ran with in Los Santos left him behind. All disappearing overnight, or abandoning him in the middle of a hit.

Ryan vanished. And then Ray. And Gavin knew if he stuck around longer everyone else would just up and leave him too. It happened too many times to not happen again.

“So, no,” Gavin began, balling up his fists, “I didn’t plan this and I didn’t  _murder_ Ray,” his voice had raised to a shout, a strained kind of shout where each word resonated with pain and grief.

“I’m gonna find Geoff and Ryan,” Jack said softly.

He left Gavin and Jeremy stewing in thought before Michael entered the room. Both Jeremy and Gavin’s attentions snapped towards Michael. 

“Hey,” Michael called out, “it’s been a long day, huh?”

 

* * *

 

Ryan made his way up the stairs, hoping to find Geoff somewhere. Ryan knew Geoff was hurting, he was too. For everyone to turn on each other so quickly… His own actions had been rash, between breaking Gavin’s nose and shooting the ceiling.

He walked into the ‘master’ bedroom, if it could be considered that. Broken glass covered the floor, and something sticky held onto the sole of his boot. Brown streaks of liquid ran down the walls. Whiskey.  He found Geoff sat in the middle of the bed, head buried deep in his hands.

“Geoff?” Ryan called tentatively, he reached out a hand, instinctively wrapping it around Geoff.

“This is all my fucking fault,” Geoff sobbed into Ryan’s shoulder, “I was the one that wanted to pull off this  _stupid fucking heist_. Now Ray’s dead and we’re on lockdown, squatting in this filthy shithole dump with a traitor downstairs.

“The crew broke because you left us, Ryan. What the hell was so important it made you leave us without any indication where you went?”

“I got forced into hiding.” Ryan hadn’t told anyone. He hadn’t spoken to a  _single person_ in half a year, the heist being the first time. He had barely re-adjusted to the sound of his own voice. “Edgar found me. Found us. I had to leave for the safety of everyone.”

“Damn.” Geoff found himself at a loss for words.

“About a month or two ago Michael kept trying to contact me, it was hard to ignore him. Look, about what Michael said earlier, where were you when Ray died? I already know you and Gav got separated.”

“This is kinda dumb, but I got lost in the underground parking lot,” Geoff admitted, his cheeks flushing crimson.

Ryan stifled a laugh with the back of his hand.

Geoff gently elbowed him in the stomach. “Don’t laugh, asshole, it was dark as dicks down there and there was some kinda smoke.”

“You saw the smoke too?” 

“Yeah, don’t know where the fuck it came from.” Geoff rested his head on Ryan’s shoulder. “I’m glad there’s at least one of you I can trust.”

They sat huddled together, content in each other’s company. For a moment, Geoff felt peaceful, like he could pretend all of the day’s events hadn’t happened. He didn’t even care about the military or LSPD showing up anymore.

“Ryan, you know it wasn’t me, right?”

Ryan looked pensive, pondering his next words. “Our comms were still connected, I would’ve heard the gunshot on your call,” he settled on.

A gentle knock on the door drew them apart. Jack walked in, wearing a face of nothing but compassion and grief.

“It’s gonna be a long night, huh?”

 

* * *

 

In the middle of the night Ryan woke to muffled yelling upstairs. He stretched out his limbs, contorted uncomfortably from the makeshift bed he found himself on.

Ryan crept up the stairs, rubbing his tired eyes. A loud thud startled him, he reached out for the handrail in panic.  _What the hell is going on up there?_  He bolted up the rest of the stairs, stopping at the slightly ajar door. 

Ryan took in a deep breath before busting open the door. Broken wood fell in a pile opposite the bed, mixed in with the shards of a broken mirror. Michael had been pinned to the floor by Geoff, whose knuckles were coated in blood. Ryan assumed the blood belonged to Michael. The underneath of Geoff’s left eye began to bloom in a light purple colour.

“What the  _hell_ is happening?” Ryan raised both his voice and an eyebrow.

“I found this fucker trying to  _escape._ He was mumbling something about an “Agent Coal,”” Geoff snarled, he had a wildly dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Fuck you,” Michael spat words and blood from his mouth.

“Get Jack.” Ryan’s heart began to beat quickly, he couldn’t stop his hands from tremouring. “I’ll… take care of this.”

Geoff handed Michael over to Ryan by the crook of his elbow before storming out of the room. 

Ryan started to move Michael down to the basement, he felt Michael writhing in his steely grasp. 

“What were you thinking?” Ryan said with an undeserved kindness. 

“I wasn’t.”

 

* * *

 

Ryan struggled to wrestle Michael into the steel chair. He looked around for something to bind Michael with, and had to settle for old, damp boating rope.

He stared at Michael with anger and pity. Ryan could only hope whatever made Michael betray the Fakes -  _made him kill Ray_ \- was worth it.

Geoff arrived with a dishevelled Jack soon enough. Ryan saw traces of tears glistening on Jack’s cheeks.

Geoff turned to face Jack and Ryan, using his body to block Michael. “Until we find out exactly what the fuck is going on, we don’t tell Gav and Jeremy, okay?”

Shit. Ryan had yet to consider how badly this would hurt the lads, how badly it would hurt Gavin in particular. He and Jack nodded in complacent silence.

“Jack, do you mind dealing with them for now?” Geoff said.

“Of course,” Jack’s voice was brittle and uneasy. He folded his arms and held them tightly against his chest.

Upon his surfacing from the basement, Jack ran into Gavin grabbing a glass of water.

“You and Jeremy made up yet?”

Gavin scoffed loudly. “The smarmy bastard won’t admit he’s lying.”

Jack thought they had already cleared up their innocence earlier.

“Look, come listen to him.” Gavin grabbed a hold of Jack and dragged him along by the hand over to a groggy looking Jeremy. 

“Still trying to convince Jack I’m a murderer?” Jeremy wore a wicked smirk. 

Jack sighed heavily. He was right about it being a long night, especially now Geoff put him on babysitting duty. 

“Gavin, I don’t think either of you did it,” Jack explained calmly.

“ _I_ still think Jeremy could’ve done it. What if he shot himself to cover it up?” Gavin’s expression grew smug. 

“I know it’s hard for you, but don’t be so fucking stupid, Gavin.” Jack cradled his head in his hands, it hadn’t even been five minutes and he was ready to strangle Gavin. Jack couldn’t remember the Brit being  _that_ intolerable.

“I might be coming down from my meds but I will still pile drive you through this table, fucknut,” Jeremy retorted.

Maybe letting Gavin and Jeremy kill each other from sheer stupidity wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

 

* * *

 

Upon returning to the basement in the morning, Geoff, Ryan, and Jack found Michael asleep. Ryan gave him a swift kick to the shin.  
  
“Come on, sleeping Judas. We need answers.”

Michael raised his head, looking Ryan in the eyes. His face started to bruise all over, his eyes red and raw. The old boating rope had been cold, pressed tightly against his skin all night.

Ryan pulled up a seat, lining himself directly opposite Michael. He put the skull mask back on, and Michael could only see two unnervingly calm eyes staring back at him.

“Why did you do it?” Ryan kept a cool head.

“Do what?” Michael’s smirk was lopsided, not fully stretched out to avoid upsetting the bruising. 

Geoff pushed past Ryan, he grabbed Michael by the jaw, forcing him to look him in the eye. “ _Murder Ray.”_  

“You- you don’t give a shit about the military almost killing you?” Geoff shook his head, and returned to Jack’s side.

Michael screwed up his face, trying to find all the right words to explain all the wrong things he did.

“It started,” they all pretended they didn’t hear his voice crack, “about two months ago.”

 

* * *

 

_Michael jogged up the stairwell to his shithole apartment after robbing a convenience store. He made it out with $15 and a fucking candy bar._

_He missed the Fakes so fucking much. Not just for the paycheques, but for the companionship, for the feeling he had finally found a family that wanted him. They all gave up so easily after Ryan fled. The one thing he had now was his marriage._

_He paused at the top of the stairs. He didn’t forget to lock the front door, right? Michael pulled the pistol out from his leather jacket pocket and made his way to the door, taking each step with caution._

_“FIB! On the ground, now!”_

_Michael’s gun fell limply out of his grip. The next thing he knew, he’d been pushed to the floor. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and then, nothing._

_When Michael woke a few hours later he found himself handcuffed to a desk. The air con had been turned up and the fucking pigs took his jacket. The broken clock on the wall mocked him, it ticked away but no minutes passed._

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

_How long had he been alone? It felt like a lifetime. A plainly dressed cop led a sharp-suited agent into the room._

_“Mr. Jones, this is Agent Coal.”_  
_  
“I don’t give a fuck who he is, I’m not talking without my lawyer.”_

_“...About that,” Coal began, “you’re not getting one.”_

_Michael’s jaw hung slack. He took a brief pause to recompose himself, he clenched his jaw and bit his tongue._

_“We can place you at the scene of every single crime you’ve been accused of committing,” Coal told him calmly. “However, I came to propose a deal with you.”_

_His eyes narrowed at Coal. “Go on.”_

_“It’s not you we were looking for, you were just the easiest to find. I want the rest of your crew, dead or alive, I don’t care.”_

_“No.”_  

_“You don’t know what I’m offering. See, you’re definitely getting a sentence, you’ll get enough time for the seven of you. If you’re unlucky, they’ll give you the death penalty, god knows you all deserve it._

_“Now I’m sure you don’t want to serve a collective sentence on your crew’s behalf after they abandoned you. Deal with them, bring them in, kill them, I don’t really give a shit, and you’re a free man, Michael.”_

_“I’m not a traitor,” Michael spat, facing away from Coal._

_“You’re married, aren’t you Michael?”_

_“Fucking do anything and I’ll kill you-”_

_“_ **_I_ ** _won’t do anything, Mr. Jones, though I can’t speak for some of my colleagues. You have a choice here, why let those who left you behind get away with it?_

_“I’ll leave you here for three days, give you time to think, time to work out any… unfinished business, get your affairs in order,” Coal said with a smirk. He turned on his heal, a false smile on his face. “See you soon.”_

_The first thing Michael attempted to do was contact Geoff. He called and called, no answer every time. He had to warn them, had to ask them to come get him. Hours later and still no answer. Michael cried for the first time in as long as he could remember._

_On day two he tried calling Ryan. No answer. He sent Ryan multiple texts, Ryan responded to one. “We’re not a crew anymore, stop bothering me.” Gavin’s number went straight through to someone else, and Michael profusely apologised for opening the call with the words “you little bastard.”_

_Jeremy had so many phones Michael didn’t know which one to contact him on, and as far as he knew, Ray stopped using them for ‘social’ calls. Jack hadn’t picked up either, his only response being a single text that read “sorry.” Michael assumed Geoff stopped Jack from replying._  

_On day three Michael decided fuck them all. He wasn’t about to put his family in danger for a gang of two-bit street thugs who didn’t give a shit about anyone but themselves. All he had to do was say yes to Coal’s deal. Set them up to a life of misery for abandoning him when he needed them most._

_He would let the Fakes crash and burn, just like they did to him._

_The fourth day arrived, as did Agent Coal. He sat himself in the chair, face composed except for his crude smile._

” _So, do you accept the terms of our deal?”_

_“...Yes.”_

_It was a reluctant yes. A yes that cut him up, but a yes they deserved. If they abandoned him, resigned to fate, then Michael could do the same._

_This game could use more players._

 

* * *

 

“You guys left me behind and I was desperate for revenge,” Michael finished. 

“That’s no fucking excuse for murdering Ray,” Geoff called out over Ryan’s shoulder. He couldn’t be convinced. 

“Ray saw me coming. I took him out before he could say anything to you, but it was an accident! Ryan, please! Tell him I didn’t mean to do it.”

Ryan stayed quiet, contemplating Michael’s words. He knew Geoff had been right, no reasons could excuse what Michael did, but he also felt at fault. If he had answered Michael…

“I tried to keep us together, the four of us that were left, but you fucking gave up on me, and when you all ignored my calls, my cries for help, I gave up on you.” The bitterness left Michael’s words, leaving them hollow with nothing but sad justification. “The FIB threatened my fucking  _family,_ Geoff.”

Geoff stared at the dirty floor. He couldn’t look at Michael, not now. “We were your family too.” So much vulnerability clung to his words.

I fucked up massively,” Michael shifted uncomfortably in his binds, “but I can make it up to you. Give me,  _give us_ , a second chance.” Michael’s eyes watered, Ryan couldn’t tell if it came from sadness or sheer fatigue. “Please.”

“What do you wanna do with him?” Ryan asked.

Jack and Geoff shifted uneasily. Jack, who said nothing through Michael’s explanation, finally spoke up.

“We can’t let him live,” Jack’s voice came weakly, sounding out as barely a whisper.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Jack’s right. He’ll run straight back to the FIB, fuck, he’s probably already got them on the way. We need to deal with this fast, Ryan.”

Ryan remained in stunned disbelief. He didn’t know if Michael deserved to die. He didn’t want to have the power to decide. “We talk to Jeremy and Gavin first.”

Geoff and Jack nodded in agreement. The three turned to walk out of the basement.

“You can’t just kill me, Geoff. I have a fucking family,” Michael called after him.

“I’ll make sure to send them my condolences.” Geoff’s reply was as cold as Michael’s betrayal.

 

* * *

 

Geoff calmly explained to Gavin and Jeremy what Michael had done. Gavin refused to speak to anyone, instead choosing to sit away from the crew. He dug his nails into his arm, slipping them back into the familiar grooves created by years of the habit.

“What’re we doing about him?” Jeremy asked, wringing his hands together. There came no response.

Geoff finally spoke up. “Someone’s gotta put him out of his misery.” Jeremy stared at Geoff, wide-eyed and mouth hanging open to form a little ‘o’ shape.

“He’s family,” Gavin growled out from his corner of the room. His words were laced with unfamiliar danger. Gavin hadn’t used that tone on someone in a  _long_ time.

“Family doesn’t fucking betray each other, Gavin! I know  _you’re_ probably used to it but the rest of us aren’t.” Geoff’s cruelty stung the entire crew. Gavin looked like a kicked puppy.

“Can’t we excommunicate him?” Jeremy had a pleading look in his eyes, he made his way over to the corner of the room and put a comforting arm around Gavin.

Jack shook his head. “He’ll go back to the FIB, we can’t put ourselves at risk like that.”  
  
“And what if he doesn’t? Let me talk to him, Geoff,” Gavin said.

Geoff blocked the stairway to the basement with his entire body. “That’s not a good idea, Gav.”

Gavin made an attempt to push past Geoff, growing desperate to see Michael. Geoff took hold of Gavin and sat him back down.

“This is bloody sick, Geoff.” Geoff knew all too well just how sick it was.

“Ryan? Tell me you’re not okay with this, please,” Jeremy said.

Ryan took a moment. Both options were awful, though one seemed to be obviously worse. In inhaled deeply, not quite ready to believe what he was about to say. “Jack and Geoff are right. There’s too much risk in keeping him alive.”

“Who’s gonna do it?” Jeremy asked, his voice small.

No one wanted to. Geoff put up a tough act, but Jeremy saw him squirm at the thought.

The room slipped into awkward stillness.

“I’ll do it,” Ryan said, though his tone gave away his uncertainty.

“You still have that gun?” Geoff said.

Ryan nodded meekly.

 

* * *

 

The Fakes trailed behind Geoff in absolute silence. He blindfolded Michael without uttering a single word, and gestured to Ryan to get in position.

Ryan’s hand trembled on the gun grip. He couldn’t bring himself to place his finger on the trigger.  _It’ll only take a moment, do it and leave._

The gunshot echoed around the room. Blood sprayed onto Jeremy and Gavin. The pistol dropped out of Ryan’s shaking hand. Geoff fell to his knees. Jack broke down.

The sounds of Gavin’s haunting wails wouldn’t leave Ryan’s mind anytime soon.

 

* * *

 

The remainder of the Fakes sat around the coffee table, all squished up on the one couch.

Gavin had a deathly grip on Jeremy’s hand, his eyes had puffed up in an awful shade of red. He tried his best to obscure them with sunglasses.

“What now?” someone asked, Geoff thought it might have been Jack.

“I think we’re never gonna bring this up, or even better, never talk to each other again.” Geoff moved from the centre of the couch, he was out the front door without even looking back.

With Geoff having left, they all looked lost. Faces flitting from person to person, not quite knowing what to do.

Ray and Michael were dead. Geoff was gone. And in that moment, everyone knew how it had to end. It had to end just how it started.

By the end of the day, anyone left in the safehouse had trickled away, all traces of the once reigning Fake AH Crew withdrew from Los Santos. With the exception of surveillance footage and criminal record no other signs of the notoriously infamous Fakes could be found.

And so, commenced the death of the Fake AH Crew. Geoff said the job would be suicide.


End file.
